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Sanity Break #1
Pete McBride travels to remote stretches to photograph the last quiet places on earth. The photos are beautiful, but as wonderful is his which reminds us of the sound of human silence—which is becoming harder to hear with each passing and noisier day.
Headlines that matter
CHINA BULKS UP ON INTERNMENT CAMPS Satellite images reveal that Beijing has built 380 new "suspected detention facilities" since 2017—and many of them have been freshly built. Their presence directly contradicts the government’s claim that most of the Uighurs and other ethnic minorities being held in these camps have “returned to society.” Point to note: many of these camps are located right next to factories. () In other China news: TikTok has filed a suit in the US to block the President’s ban which will kick in this Sunday. The judge the Trump administration to either delay the ban, or file a response to TikTok’s request. Also: ByteDance for a Chinese technology export licence to seal the deal with Oracle. In TikTok India news: The company’s shows that it removed a whopping 37 million videos in India—in just the first six months of 2020! Over half of them displayed adult nudity and sexual activities or posing a threat to minor safety. Plus this: the Indian government submitted the most requests for user information in the world. THE INDIAN PANDEMIC: A QUICK UPDATE * India’s ‘R’ value has for the first time since the start of the pandemic. The value measures how many people one person can infect. And any value under 1 is very good news as it shows the spread is finally slowing down. * Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister Covid and Dengue—and has been hospitalised. * The Supreme Court the government to offer financial support, food and other help to sex workers—who have lost their livelihoods due to pandemic safety measures. * Harley Davidson is in India. The reason: "While this is a key market for the company, it has failed to show retail sales growth in the past 14 quarters. And Covid-19 has further hammered prospects. The last quarter saw a year-on-year dip in retail sales of 27%, the worst-ever in the past six years.” * Yesterday, clips of passengers cramming themselves into local trains in Mumbai went viral (see ). Railway authorities that heavy rains had resulted in a number of cancelled trains—which led to the chaos. Trump takes aim at students, again His administration is planning to impose new restrictions on visas given to students and journalists. Until now F-1 student visas were issued for ‘duration of stay’—i.e. as long as the student was enrolled in a university. As per the new rules, these will now be given for a limited period of four years—which is the normal duration of an undergraduate degree program. () SHERYL SANDBERG’S ASTONISHING CLAIM Between May and August, obtained 16 audio recordings from Facebook employees. One of them is a clip of COO Sandberg complaining that her company doesn’t get any credit for helping good people do good: > “We don’t get credit for any of those movements… We don’t get credit for any of it. But the brave women who spoke out on Me Too, > the brave people who spoke out on Black Lives Matter, the brave people who organized the Women’s March — they needed the tool. > There’s a reason this is happening now and it didn’t happen before.” That opened the door for a senior Twitter exec to : “We are not perfect here. By any means. But never in a zillion years would an exec here be looking for ‘credit’ for the activists and movements that we are lucky to use this platform to use their voice." THE WEALTHY ARE THE WORST POLLUTERS A new Oxfam study reveals a staggering ‘’: > “According to it, between 1990-2015, the world’s annual emissions grew by 60%, while cumulative emissions doubled. The > wealthiest 10% of the world’s population, about 630 million people, were responsible for 50% of the cumulative emissions, and > the poorest 50%, some 3.1 billion people, just 7% of the cumulative emissions.” That 10% represents 630 million people making more than $35,000 a year. But where does this 10% live? North America and the European Union account for half of their emissions—while a fifth are from China and India. () A CONDOM-SIZED HORROR IN VIETNAM The police around 345,000 used condoms—which were cleaned and resold as new! The warehouse owner says they received a “monthly input of used condoms”—which they ‘recycled’ so: > “A woman detained during the bust told police that the used prophylactics were first boiled in water then dried and reshaped on > a wooden phallus before being repackaged and resold.” BIG HIPS/THIGHS ARE A SIGN OF HEALTH According to a new study, people with large thighs or wide hips are less likely to die early. But a beer belly is a big sign of trouble. Every extra 4 inches (10 cm) around your waist increase the risk of premature death by 11%. OTOH: “Each 10cm increase in hip circumference was associated with a 10% lower risk of death from all causes—and each 5cm increase in thigh circumference was associated with an 18% lower risk." More details over at (paywall) or . JIO MAKES THE ‘FREEBIE’ MOVE Vodafone subscribers in June—while Jio added 4.5 million users in the same month. To make things worse, Jio is now —like Netflix and Amazon Prime subscriptions—to kill the competition. Also doing its best: Maruti, which has rolled out a subscription program. You can now lease your car rather than buy it outright. has more on how it works.
Sanity Break #2
This is a of the greatly beloved Harry Belafonte classic ‘Jamaican Farewell’ and its equally lyrical Bengali version ‘Pother Prante’— Ranjan Prasad back in the 70s. (h/t subscriber Indrani Chakraverty)
Smart & Curious
A SHORT LIST OF GOOD READS * We’ve all seen eye-popping images of wildfires. But do they really capture reality? Photographers reveal what those photos hide in . * Eva Hagberg in argues that the pandemic has been a boon for friendship—delinking emotional connection from physical presence. * We all know animals migrate. But did you know that trees migrate as well? speaks to the ecologist who tracks ‘moving’ trees. * Parag Khanna and Michael Ferrari in argue it is time we recognise that collective action is never going to avert climate change. The only answer: radical geoengineering to transform our planet. (This is truly a wild read courtesy ) * profiles ‘Mariko Amekodommo’, the French/Italian/American Ayurvedic chef who is taking Mumbai by storm.
Life advisory
IF YOU’RE A NATURE LOVER… We have two very different recommendations. One: brilliant list of the best wildlife/nature podcasts. It includes a wide variety of genres and themes, ranging from the seriously nerdy to just serious fun. Two: Wildlife SOS India is hosting on how to be a responsible tourist this Sunday at 7:30 pm. If you can’t attend they will email you the webinar to all registered participants so you can watch at leisure. IF YOU WANT TO SUPPORT A SMALL BUSINESS… Please check out curated by Aparna Jain (also splainer subscriber and pal). She offers pan-India recommendations of all kinds, be it pet food, Insta workout gurus or makers of delicious pickle. There’s something useful here for everyone. Bonus for her fellow NCR residents: delicious foodie picks. We’ve personally bookmarked this one. (And yes, splainer is on the list, and we thank you, dear subscriber, for supporting our work!). A WEEKEND WATCHLIST UPDATE Not on our list: We’re going to pass on Netflix’s original series ‘’—the scary spinoff that turns its attention to one of cinema’s most infamous villains, Nurse Ratched from ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’. Reason: The reviews are uniformly bad. See and . But, but, but this guy over at really liked it. So 🤷🏽♀️, we leave you to make up your own mind, and check out the trailer below. Top of our list: We are super-excited to check out ‘’ on Amazon Prime—a conspiracy thriller penned by none other than Gillian Flynn of ‘Gone Girl’ fame, and starring the always beloved John Cusack. It is a US remake of a highly acclaimed Brit series—which we haven’t seen so we’re ignoring some critics moaning about how that one was way better. Reviews and . ICYMI: of ‘The Good Place’ drops on Netflix this weekend. This is our go-to series when we’re winding it all down in bed. The show deals with surprisingly weighty topics like true love, ethics and free will—without ever being dull or unfunny! If you’ve never watched the series, start from . You won’t regret it.
Feel Good Place
: Well, it was only a matter of time… : Only two of God’s creatures can walk on water. Jesus Christ and… a moose?!! : ICYMI, there was a mini (women-only) Friends reunion during the Emmys. And it was every bit as charming as you’d expect. : Mamata Banerjee has taken up singing. Yes, this is the end of days.
